FOIA suit seeks records on Petraeus investigation

A newly filed Freedom of Information Act lawsuit is demanding that the federal government fork over records from the investigations that led to former Central Intelligence Agency Director Gen. David Petraeus' guilty plea last year to a charge of mishandling classified information.

The suit, filed Friday in federal court in Washington by Daily Beast reporter Shane Harris and a pro-transparency organization, the James Madison Project, seeks information from three federal agencies — the Justice Department, the Defense Department and the CIA.

Petraeus pleaded guilty in February 2015 to a single misdemeanor count of mishandling classified information by retaining notebooks containing highly classified information at his home without permission and sharing some of those materials with his biographer and paramour, Paula Broadwell. She was an officer in the Army reserve but was not officially authorized to receive the classified materials.

A federal judge in North Carolina sentenced Petraeus to two years probation and a $100,000 fine.

Harris and the transparency group filed a series of FOIA requests last month seeking details on various inquiries the FBI, the CIA and the Pentagon pursued beginning in 2012 after a Florida woman, Jill Kelley, reported to the FBI that she had received messages from someone who appeared to be familiar with her movements as well as those of top military officers and Petraeus.

The ensuing probes reportedly established that the messages came from Broadwell and that Petraeus, who is married, had an affair with her. Petraeus resigned shortly after the November 2012 elections, citing errors in judgment on his part. No charges were ever filed against Broadwell. The probes now appear to be closed.

In 2013, Kelley sued the U.S. government under the Privacy Act, arguing that officials at the Pentagon and/or the FBI leaked to the press personal information about her, including contents of her email account. That case remains pending in federal court in Washington.

Among the records sought in the FOIA lawsuit are details on any damage assessments carried out in the probes, as well as details on any administrative actions against Petraeus, which could include suspending or revoking his security clearance.

The new FOIA case was filed on the same day the House Benghazi Committee announced that Petraeus is scheduled to testify privately before that panel on Saturday. It will be Petraeus' second round of testimony there.

A lawyer for Petraeus, David Kendall, declined to comment on the new suit.

UPDATE (Friday, 6:10 P.M.): This post has been updated to reflect that Kendall declined comment.